The Birth of a Wishing Heart

2. Moving Shadows

Adiscordia couldn't believe it. She had left for a few minutes and that was enough for her sister to wander into the dark woods and nearly be lured in by the worst curse in history. As she finished up her song, guilt tore at her chest. It was her fault.

She had been tasked to watch Grizelda but at the same time, she was famished. Neither of them were strangers to the stomach rumblings, but she was tired of tree bark day and night. She did her best to distract her sister from her hunger with games and stories, but it wasn't as easy to distract herself. At night she dreamed of cookies and marzipan, the same ones she saw in the bakery. She could never afford anything from there but when her stomach tormented her she could nearly smell the fresh scent of bread fresh out of the oven. Her daydream was then shattered by the repetitive scraping of her mother looking for tree bark to ground and boil into a tasteless imitation of flatbread. Reality hit with a stab in the gut. Adiscordia wanted nothing more than to crawl into a ball and cry but she knew if she started crying then Grizelda would follow.

She only had meant to take a short moment to hide behind a tree and let herself cry. Later she could cry in her mother's lap, but she needed something to ease her frustrations now. She wanted to kick at the mud and throw a bunch of leaves in the distance. Anything to quietly ease her frustrations while her sister was distracted with her game of root hopping. She swiftly hid behind a tree and held her breath to keep from screaming. She faintly remembered the mouth-watering aroma of a roasted chicken from the marketplace. It only made her head ache in pain further.

When her tears had left her and her envy was temporarily soothed she left her hiding space only to find that her sister was missing. She had warned her not to stray from the path but her baby sister was only five. She should have never left her alone! "Gri, where did you go?" She knew she would have followed the large tree roots that emerged from the ground. She tried to follow her sister's carefree mind, desperately hoping she was only a moment away.

Then she saw her. She stood in front of the darkest piece of forest she had ever seen. Adiscordia looked up at the sun, whose rays were no match for this compilation of shadows. "Gri!" The terror was moving as if to approach her sister. The air was growing cold and a chill ran down her spine. It was something greater than the song she heard. This was worse than a witch. The darkness itself was alive, and out of all the things it could consume, it wanted her baby sister. How had she missed such a massive threat? How could she let herself be distracted?

Even after her song, Grizelda took a step backward. Seeing her sister shift nearly in a haze was enough to snap her from her thoughts. Her eyes were darkened into a navy. She turned back to the darkness to see it stretching a series of arms toward them. Adiscordia gave her sister a push to bring back her attention. "Let's race to mamma!" Immediately she took her sister's shoulders and ran forward to her mother. Her sister loved to play, she hoped it was enough to take her attention away from the dark.

To Adiscordia's relief, Grizelda's eyes shone back to their regular hue as they met hers. "I'm gonna win!" She called as she rushed ahead, as cheerful as ever. How was she not afraid? Now that her sister was safe Adiscordia decided to keep her entertained as they headed to their mother. She wouldn't let her out of her sight for a second.

Right now she wanted to be as close as she could to the tree where her mother worked to take out the bark. "Mamma!" She was so close, but the howling of the wind easily silenced her calling. She'd come down soon, but she wanted her to come down faster. "Mamma!" she kicked at the tree but her mother hardly looked down. Her back pressed against the tree her mother had climbed. Somehow being as close as she was made her feel safer. Her father was supposed to be back soon too. She could take care of Grizelda until then. She was her big sister, after all, she had to. It was only a few more minutes that she'd have to keep watch. "Did you hear of the Princess's grand ball?"